With the advent of wireless electronic communications devices such as wireless telephones, pagers, instant text messaging systems, and other wireless personal digital assistants, call or message senders have grown accustomed to reaching a user of such wireless devices at any time and at any place. Typically, when a message or call is placed to such wireless devices, some indication is received by the sender as to the status of the call or message. For example, a page or instant message sent to a wireless device may cause the sender to receive an indication the message was delivered or read. A call to a wireless telephone may be answered by a called party or by a voice mail system.
Unfortunately, such systems do not alert the sender or caller when the receiving wireless device is off or out of the transmission range of the receiving device. If a pager or other wireless messaging device is off or out of range, the sender typically receives a return message that the message or page was delivered, but not read. Such a message may indicate to the sender that the receiving party received the message, but simply has not yet read the message. A call placed to a wireless telephone that is off or out of range typically results in the call being answered by a voice mail system. As far as the calling party is concerned, the called party may simply be engaged in a current telephone conversation resulting in the call being transferred to the voice mail system. Unfortunately, in either situation, if it is urgent that the caller or sender reach the user of the wireless device, the caller or sender has no way of knowing that some alternate method of reaching the receiving party must be used owing to the fact that the receiving device is either off or is out of range.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and system for alerting a calling or message sending party as to whether a receiving wireless device is off or out of range. It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present invention has been made.